John Bartlett

John Bartlett's ongoing celebration of all things male took a turn for the patrician this season with a collection that was as scrupulously neat as a new uniform. He described it as a concerted effort to marry tailoring and sportswear, and most outfits had elements of restraint and release. A suit in a shadow glen plaid was paired with woven-rope flip-flops, and dapper shorts with a precise little cuff were worn with a clingy cotton-knit top. In fact, the knitwear generally harked back to the overt sexiness that has always been a Bartlett signature. It clung to the models' six-packs so efficiently that front-row Phil Donahue, an old Bartlett family friend from Dayton, Ohio, days, felt pumping iron would be a prerequisite before he could even go near the clothes. On the subject of harking back, Bartlett name-checked as inspirations the movie Summer of '42 and Evan Bachner's photographs of sailors at ease during World War IImore for mood than anything literal, though there was a nostalgic hint of shore leave in the smart but relaxed feel of a pea jacket paired with shorts (cuffed again) and a jacket-shirt-and-pants combo in khaki. (Bartlett also mentioned the French Foreign Legion flick Beau Travail in passing.) The minimal palettenavy, gray, white, khakireflected the mood of restraint, until the collection climaxed with a couple of sheer shirts in deep orange and banana-yellow, reminders that boys just want to have fun.